Background: Run On (Screenshot: Netflix); Hearts, clockwise from left: Crash Landing On You (Lim Hyo Seon/Netflix), Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (Screenshot: Netflix), It’s Okay To Not Be Okay (Screenshot: Netflix)Graphic: Allison Corr
In 5 To Watch, writers from The A.V. Club look at the latest streaming TV arrivals, each making the case for a favored episode. Alternately, they can offer up recommendations inspired by a theme. In this installment: In honor of “Love Week,” we’re rounding up some of our favorite K-dramas.
When Squid Game smashed Netflix records last year, the general response in the West one was of surprise—but South Korea has been producing some of the most popular TV shows in the world for decades. Ahead of Valentine’s Day, we’re digging into the country’s most heavily exported genre: K-dramas.
With hundreds of K-drama titles available—most of which consist of roughly 16 hour-plus episodes—it can be difficult to determine where to start or even decide if you want to make such a lengthy viewing commitment. The A.V. Club is here to make things easier by narrowing down the choices, so you can spend this February 14 cuddled up with a box of discounted chocolates and some characters with way more exciting love lives.
The Heirs a.k.a. The Inheritors (available on Netflix)
The Heirs is the oldest entry on this list, and even though 2013 doesn’t seem like it was that long ago (depending on who you talk to), you’ll be shocked at how dated this show feels. But it’s dated in a comforting way: The waxy camera quality, giant cellphones, and swoopy surfer hair will transport you back to the Old Normal.For K-drama novices, The Heirs is a crash course. The series introduces many tropes that are pretty ubiquitous throughout the genre, including how the story centers around a wealthy boy named Kim Tan (Lee Min-Ho) and a poor girl named Cha Eun-Sang (Park Shin-Hye). After a chance meeting and a subsequent series of outlandish adventures in California, Eun-Sang and Tan reunite at school in South Korea. Unlike the wackiness of their time in the States, the pair must face a sobering reality: Tan is the heir to a Korean family conglomerate (known as a chaebol) and Eun-Sang’s mom is the Kim family’s maid. With a class disparity like that, there’s no way a relationship between Tan and Eun-Sang could work—especially not within the rigid confines of the K-drama universe.The series features a lot of discussions and depictions of wealth and class, and some of the most true-to-life but frustrating scenes come when Eun-Sang explains how she experiences life and moves through the world and Tan (young, in love, and most importantly rich) simply doesn’t get it.
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (available on Netflix)
Sometimes regular old television escapism isn’t working and you need something a bit stronger—you need to be transported.Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha is set in the seaside village of Gongjin and is stacked with dreamy shots of the ocean, cozy streets, and local businesses. It becomes immediately clear that .Dentist Yoon Hye-Jin (Shin Min-A) loses her cool with her boss and gets unceremoniously fired from her job. After being blacklisted, Hye-Jin realizes that her job prospects in the city are bleak, and she must relocate if she ever wants to find work again. Instead of just commuting to another dismal, humdrum city, Hye-Jin sets up shop in enchanting Gongjin, where she meets Hong Du-sik (Kim Seon-Ho). Du-Sik is the town’s resident jack-of-all-trades: He’s a police officer, delivery man, fisherman, and a barista. There’s really nothing he can’t do.In addition to Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha’s immersive world-building, the early joys of this drama come in the form of watching country boy Du-Sik teaching uptight Hye-Jin how to unclench.
It’s Okay To Not Be Okay is all about love. This series is about romantic love, yes, but it’s also love between siblings and, mostly importantly, love between a child and a mom. Gang-tae (Kim Soo-hyun) is a gentle, empathetic man who works hard to support his older autistic brother Sang-tae (Oh Jung-se). The pair have moved from town to town in the years after their mother’s death and they only find some stability once Gang-tae lands a job as a caretaker at a psychiatric ward. While he was still a child, Gang-tae’s mother often told him that she had him solely to be his brother’s keeper. Gang-tae carries the weight of the responsibilities and duties bestowed upon him by his mom even after her death.Gang-Tae meets Ko Moon-young (Seo Yea-Ji) at a book signing; she is a bestselling children’s book author and Sang-Tae is obsessed with her work. Where Gang-Tae is all soft curves and a willingness to be as agreeable and unobtrusive as possible, Moon-Young is sharp and fiery like a flint. She has her own set of mommy issues, and she sets her sights on Gang-Tae the moment they meet. He has to remind her that he is a person, not a plaything. The show is a story about their love and all the ways Gang-Tae, Sang-Tae, and Moon-Young unpack and then redefine the meaning of the word “family.”What makes It’s Okay Not To Be Okay an especially memorable and unique drama is its fairytale motif, which creates a tone that is whimsical at first, but becomes chilling and downright ominous toward the last half of the series.
Run On (available on Netflix)
Run On is lighter K-drama fare. There are no wild cliffhangers or polarizing plot twists. At its core, it’s a “” drama about two people falling in love. It’s the perfect, lightweight watch for those days where you just want to put your brain in neutral. The series follows Ki Seon-Gyeom (Im Si-Wan) a star track and field athlete and the son of a famous actor, and Oh Mi-Joo (Shin Se-Kyung) who works as an early career film translator. After an unconventional meet-cute in the middle of a city street, the two continue to hang out and eventually catch feelings.Another thing of note about this series is that the second lead couple really give Seon-Gyeom and Mi-Joo a run for their money. Seo Dan-Ah (Choi Soo-Young) is the CEO of Dann Agency, a chaebol sports agency. She is a no-nonsense career woman but her soft spot is art, which is where Lee Yeong-Hwa (Kang Tae-Oh) comes in. He’s a happy-go-lucky, working class artist—the perfect romantic foil for Dan-Ah. Their easy banter and more fiery dynamic more than makes up for any perceived lack of warmth in the steady, gently simmering romance between Seon-Gyeom and Mi-Joo.
